I am excited I was able to photograph Azaleas summer 2015 lookbook! Azalea is a local clothing store based in San Francisco and sells a variety of womens and mens clothes. You can check out the lookbook by visiting their website www.azaleasf.com (Summer 2015). Here are some of my favorite shots from the shoot with Lizzie Gunst.
Freckles
Recently I made a trip to Los Angeles. Now they call LA the city of angels and I wasn't sold on this till I shot with Maggie White. This girl might be a transplant from New York, but she's a damn nice pickup for LA. Here are some of my favorite snaps from our shoot. Make sure to check out her Instagram, @maggiiewhite, and give her some love.
Nomad Market by Apolis
Recently I had the amazing opporunity to take over the @apolis Instagram account and shoot their opening of the Nomad Market in Berkeley at Welcome Stranger. Apolis is a, "socially motivated lifestyle brand that empowers communities worldwide." Their products are beyond amazing and are made all around the world through equal access.
Their Nomad Market is currently up and running at the Welcome Stranger location in Berkeley, CA. While taking over their Instagram, I spent some time around Berkeley and featured some of my favorite local spots before I hit up their opening reception. The Nomad Market will be open at Welcome Stranger (Berkeley location) through April 2015. Here are some of the images I captured.
Some Apolis products
Welcome Stranger, Berkeley
Nomad Market Popup Tent
Co-founder Raan Speaking
Artís Coffee in Berkeley, CA
Townie Cafe in Berkeley, CA
T-Rex at the UC Berkeley Paleontology Department
Take a Breather!
Recently a company, Breather Inc, out of Ottawa Canada reached out to me about private, beautiful, practical spaces for rent in San Francisco. They wanted me to give the rooms a test and see what I thought of them. At first I was a bit confused because I hadn't heard of anything like this. Rooms for rent? Was it an office? Was it a place to relax? And how the heck did it even work? When I asked for more info they told me they are great places to recharge after a long day, catch up on some brainstorming with colleagues or even use to shoot in. I hadn't even though about using it as a space to work with models.
After downloading the Breather app and checking out images of the spaces I was very intrigued. Their slogan is, "A space to call your own", and that's exactly what they are! They are beautiful spaces with lots of natural light. A place to get peace and quiet on demand. The rooms are all furnished and come decorated with all the latest fun books to flip through and even yoga mats! I was SOLD! I decided that I would try using the Breather spaces to shoot.
The rooms are super easy to use. All you do is download the app and sign up an account. Next you reserve rooms you want in 30 minute increments and check in with a personalized pin code. As of now, San Francisco has 13 spaces and they are continuing to expand. Breather is also located in Ottawa, Montreal, and New York. If you live in any of the cities that has rooms available I would recommend checking them out! They were also kind enough to give a promo code to pass along which gives you 1 free hour at a Breather room. Referral code : FKE7W2
Here are some images from the rooms I've used.
From my first visit!
Amazing beautiful light and this couch is amazing!
Shot of Lizzie.
Every rooms has a yoga mat. A great place to teach a one on one class?
Some of the views are amazing!
Test shoot with Madeline.
Test shoot with Lizzie
Another test shoot with Kerstyn. The natural light in these spaces are perfect for photographers
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Lost in Fog With Sydney Wojcik
Some of you on Instagram have asked about my process when shooting with models. Here is a collection of shots from my recent shoot with Sydney Wojcik. When I shoot portraits I like to keep an open mind on location until I meet with the model and talk with them about an overall look. Usually this means meeting for coffee, which you have to agree jumpstarts any shoot! To me location plays a huge role and this is probably because I started out as a landscape photographer. Many other things are taken into consideration when I shoot with a model, such as colors of clothes/style and what the weather is doing. Once I saw Sydney I was super happy that she nailed the look I was looking for based off some inspiration photos I sent to her. One plus of having to drive into the city is I get a first hand look at the overall weather. On this particular day I noticed it was extra foggy in the Marin Headlands, which would be the perfect shooting conditions with Sydney's bold look which consisted of vibrant red lipstick along with a matching red beanie. When I shoot portraits I like to look for contrast between the style of the model and the environment they are in, which I believe makes the image pop. One model described my portrait photography as actually capturing the overall subject, rather than just a face.
We headed up to the headlands and we were greeted with some thick gloomy fog. I was in my environment and probably could have taken a million photos, but we were limited by the amount of light we had. It's important to make sure you allow yourself enough time to get the shot you want and also be able to move onto more locations. One constant reminder I also have is to just keep moving to make sure all my images don't look the same. With each new location I usually like to change up the look a bit, but this time I decided that I wanted to shoot the same look against different backgrounds. I have to give props to Sydney for braving the cold damp fog, muddy trails, and steep slopes we ventured around. If any of you have shot in the fog you know how much dew is in the air, her hair was dripping wet by the end of the shoot and I could tell she was freezing! It was all worth it in the end and here are the results, which I consider to be some of my best work to date.
